Car broken down

[emilygaz]

We have had our iva for 2 years and our car broke down yesterday took it to a garage and its going to cost a lot more than the car is worth just phoned freeman jones payment brake won't cover the cost of another car I need my car for work as I look after the elderly they said they don't know what to do to help anyone know what my options are .. Thanks

[rogwal]

Why did you enter an IVA?

[IVANotOverYet]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by rogwal

Why did you enter an IVA?

Why do you ask? Are you working up to offering some useful advice, or are you just touting for business?

@emilygaz - what exactly is wrong with the car?

[emilygaz]

Engine management light comes on goes into limp home mode knocking and banging the springs on all corners have broke loosing loads of oil can't see where it's coming from need all new tyres ect

[IVANotOverYet]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by emilygaz

Engine management light comes on goes into limp home mode knocking and banging the springs on all corners have broke loosing loads of oil can't see where it's coming from need all new tyres ect

OK... So, the EML could be caused by any number of things from a £10 coolant sensor to a £500 control module, but step 1 is get the engine fault codes read. If you wish to, you can buy a code reader for peanuts (I have a £10 bluetooth reader I keep in my glovebox so I can help fault-find on people's cars where I'm out and about) and they're not difficult to use. The fault code will tell you where to look.

Knocking noises and broken springs are almost certainly symptoms and cause; broken springs are not hard to change, and the springs themselves are cheap. Have you tried ringing the local secondary schools and colleges to see if any might use your car for students learning mechanics? A lot will. All you'll need to do is buy the parts (Euro Car Parts or Car Parts 4 Less are normally good value).

Oil leaks are often not anywhere near as bad as they look. Oil is like blood - a little goes a long way when it's leaking out - and so a small leak can look really bad. Take the car to a local garage and ask if they'll steam clean the engine bay for you - take the lads in the valeting bay a crate of beers and they'll probably find a spot for you Once it's clean, it'll be easier to find where the leak is. My money's on a valve cover gasket or sump gasket, those are common weak points (or even, as it sounds like your car's not had much servicing in a while, a corroded oil filter or a loose filter). If it's a gasket as I suspect, they're again a simple thing to fix and should NOT cost much - the gaskets are pounds rather than hundreds of pounds and labour can usually be measured in minutes rather than hours (perhaps a couple of hours for certain cars for a sump gasket due to access issues).

Tyres are a pain. You can't really do much about the cost other than hunting out a local tyre place (avoid all the big chains for EVERYTHING - find a nice little backstreet garage that's a member of the local Good Garage Scheme) that does part-worns if you're really on a budget.

A lot of people won't touch them but having worked around the tyre trade I can tell you that around 50% of 'waste' tyres are good condition legal rubber which are removed purely because a lot of people always fit sets of four tyres no matter how worn they all are. It's these good waste tyres that get recycled as part-worns. I've driven over half a million miles in the last 20 years and at least 50K miles of that's been on part-worn tyres.

What make and model of car is it, and what age and mileage?

[Sarah Jolly]

Hi emilygaz

Sorry to hear about the problems you are experiencing with your car and we do appreciate how essential your car is for your job in particular.

I believe you spoke to the team this morning about the options including a payment holiday or making additional payments at the end of the arrangement.

Clearly you need to be able to get the car repaired or find a replacement. IVANotOverYet has given some good advice and it may be that you can get the repair costs down.

If you can get a quote on the repair costs or replacement vehicle if that is the cheaper option then we can chat through the options with you.

If you do need any further help you can contact me by email Sarah.Jolly@freemanjones.co.uk or call the team and we will go through the options in more detail.

I hope this helps

[emilygaz]

It's a vauxhall vectra 2.0 dti 155000 spent 900 quid on a clutch husband won't put anyone money into

[IVANotOverYet]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by emilygaz

It's a vauxhall vectra 2.0 dti 155000 spent 900 quid on a clutch husband won't put anyone money into

I'm not surprised after £900 on a clutch. That sounds excessive even by large-chain standards.

Having said that, the Vectra is a pretty simple car, parts are cheap, and the 2.0DTi is generally reliable if it's looked after, so it may be worth investigating fixing it as an option.

My main concern is that it sounds like you're not generally able to look after the car well enough; for it to get to a state where it needs as much doing as you say it sounds to me like you haven't got enough money in your budget to keep on top of even the most routine servicing and maintenance. If that is the case, it's unlikely to matter what you end up with - even a brand new car will be unreliable and expensive if you can't afford to look after it.

Definitely time to review your options with the IP, I suggest.

[emilygaz]

It was a duel mass flywheel that's why it was so expensive we have been told the car is only worth £500.00 so not worth spending anymore money on it il ring a garage on Monday and get a quote for all the work it will need doing and send it to freeman jones and see what they come up with thanks for the advice much appreciated

[IVANotOverYet]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by emilygaz

It was a duel mass flywheel that's why it was so expensive we have been told the car is only worth £500.00 so not worth spending anymore money on it il ring a garage on Monday and get a quote for all the work it will need doing and send it to freeman jones and see what they come up with thanks for the advice much appreciated

I assumed it was a DMF but even then that's a lot. The DMF itself plus a clutch can be had for around the £350 mark, leaving £550 to fit it. That sounds pretty steep to me.

A 155K Vectra C (I'm assuming it's a 2002 or later) 2.0DTi would be worth somewhere around £800-1000 in average nick with an MOT. Trade in value would be much less than that.

Good luck with FJ. If there is one piece of advice to take away from me it is WHATEVER you do, do NOT phone all the big chains. Ignore Kwik-Fit, National Autocentres, Mr Clutch, etc. Ring the local small backstreet garages (if you can find one that is JUST a garage and not one that sells cars too that's a good thing - it's hard to make that business profitable on its own so they're generally doing something right if they're surviving without a forecourt) and don't accept the first quote you get. Ring as many as you can and you'll soon start to get a feel for what's the right price.

It's also worth asking them if any of them would source and fit secondhand parts (for example complete front suspension struts secondhand may well be cheaper (and are quicker to fit) than new springs. Might buy you some time at a low price.

Also, it's worth asking for any removed/replaced parts back. You won't get much, but you can always take them to the local metal recyclers and get a few quid for them.